Like all good teachers, preachers, and all others waiting on a holiday break, this year I made it until the afternoon of Christmas day until I was laid out on the couch sick. Many thanks to my beloved 8-month-old niece who has no qualms about spreading germs. It thankfully wasn’t Covid, but whatever it was knocked me down and out for several days.
I had already cleared my schedule for a few days of vacation, but now I was sick. Was it still vacation time? Was it sick time? Was it comp time for the extra work I had been doing leading up to it? Should I have done that virtual piano lesson where I coughed for half of the time? Who is in charge around here?
I consistently have difficulty assessing when and how my time off should be tracked. I have a terribly kind congregation that wants to spend no time micromanaging me or my vacation time. It’s up to me to manage my part-time hours, my weeks off, and how that coordinates with other holiday and life expectations. The gift the congregation offers me is trust.
At best, this chaos adds up to something wonderfully grace-filled. It reminds me of what happens on years like this where Christmas and New Years Day landed on a Sunday. People didn’t miss those holidays. Instead, we had Christmas Day (observed) and New Years Day (observed) on the Mondays following the official holiday day. That little (observed) allows for some very smart rearranging.
So get ready for my calendar which is littered with those parentheses. This Sunday we have Epiphany (observed), we have my vacation day (observed), we have those Monday holidays that always fell on my scheduled day off (observed)1, we include all those rearranged days that never quite seem to fit (observed). When in doubt, I think of those corporate structures that follow these standard days off. Do I really want to be working more than the corporate structure?
My encouragement to you is to find the freedom to rearrange what you need to rearrange.2 It’s never to late to sneak in a random Wednesday afternoon off.
What I’m reading
If you want a longer read about sick days and how pastors never seem to take them, I appreciated the encouragement from Christopher Marlin-Warfield’s newsletter. Take a look!
What I’m listening to
A sad but lovely song for the start of a new year.
What life looks like
Lights up the street from me at Nela Park (a 98-year tradition)
If you are a pastor who regularly takes Mondays off, make sure you pay attention to all those Monday holidays! They don’t just evaporate because you usually get Mondays off.
For example, you’ll note that this newsletter is being sent out on a Monday (observed).